Electronic mirror

ABSTRACT

An Electronic Mirror is described that can capture and display, using a digital/video camera or cameras, the image of a subject as they look when viewing themselves in a mirror. The captured image is displayed on a video monitor or TV set. A widescreen flat panel monitor is utilized, having the ability to physically rotate 90°. In portrait mode the monitor functions as an Electronic Mirror, and in landscape mode is capable of functioning as a conventional TV set or video monitor. Rotation is either manual or motorized. Captured images of a subject may be split such that a portion reflecting one type of outfit may be combined with a portion reflecting a different outfit, thus electronically creating a combination of clothing that may never have been actually worn. Video capture may also be supported enabling a subject to capture and replay a 360 degree view as they turn around.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/075,516 filed on Mar. 11, 2008 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,978,246 andentitled “ELECTRONIC MIRROR,” by inventors Robert Osann, Jr. and Mary M.Fasching, which in turn claims the benefit and priority of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/906,755, filed on Mar. 13, 2007, andentitled “ELECTRONIC MIRROR,” by inventors Robert Osann, Jr. and Mary M.Fasching, both applications commonly assigned with the presentapplication and incorporated herein by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to Flat-Screen Video Monitors and TelevisionSets, as well as digital/video cameras, remote controls, computers andcomputer networks, and software for image processing and manipulation.

BACKGROUND

In order to feel properly dressed for business or social situations,many people find that they try on multiple items of clothing, indifferent combinations, before they find the particular combination theyfeel most comfortable wearing on a particular day. This process oftaking items of clothing on and off is especially time-consuming and,when one is pressed for time prior to an event or the start of aworkday, can make life especially frustrating. It is thereforeespecially useful to introduce a method for recording and viewing aperson's clothing ensemble using electronic methods in order to reducethe time they spend in choosing a particular ensemble on a particularday.

SUMMARY

One object of this invention is to record, using a digital/video cameraor multiple cameras, the image of a person or subject as they wouldnormally look when viewing themselves in a mirror. This image issubsequently shown to them on a flat panel video monitor or TV set. Allfunctions are controlled by either a handheld remote control or by avoice recognition remote control mechanism. Captured images may bestored for viewing at a later time.

Another object of this invention is that a widescreen flat panel monitoris utilized, having the ability to be physically rotated 90°, wherebywhen oriented in portrait mode it functions as an Electronic Mirror, andwhen oriented in landscape mode is also capable of functioning as aconventional TV set or monitor. The rotation of the monitor may beeither manual or motorized and if motorized, may be controlled by remotecontrol. The invention may include an integral TV tuner orsatellite/cable receiver, or alternately may simply receive TVprogramming via video and audio inputs driven by a separate TV receivingdevice.

Another object of this invention is that images may be saved eitherwithin the invention itself or on a storage device somewhere on a localarea network or the Internet for later retrieval by way of a networkconnection.

Another object of this invention is that the image of a person may besplit in some manner such that portions of an image reflecting one typeof outfit may be combined with a different portion of another type ofoutfit, thus electronically creating a combination of clothing that maybe shown to a person for review although this particular combination ofclothing may never have been actually worn by the person at anyparticular moment in time. This may include the ability to overlay stockimages of different jewelry items or other accessory items such as shoeson top of images of the subject when wearing different clothing ensemblecombinations. The image of a person may be split into more than twoportions. For instance, the image may be split at the beltline and againat the ankles and neck, so that different combinations of tops, bottoms,shoes, and hairstyle may be intermixed during a review session.

Another object of this invention is to include a camera capable not onlyof digital still images but also capable of capturing full motion videosuch that a person may record a sequence of events such as rotatingtheir body 360° in order to view their combination of clothing and hairstyle from different angles not normally visible with a conventionalmirror. This video may then be viewed on the same monitor immediatelyafter recording, or at a later time.

Another object of this invention is to include an alternate mode ofoperation where all images captured by the digital camera are displayedon the flat panel monitor in realtime similar to the operation of aconventional mirror, as opposed to being captured under control of aremote control command. This mode of operation is similar to that ofclosed-circuit TV (CCTV).

Another object of this invention is that captured images, and compositeimages resulting from merged portions of images and overlayed stockimages, may be shared with others via the Internet such that others maycomment on a particular outfit combination. This may be accomplished byemailing images, or by establishing an image exchange website wherein aspecific user may deposit images in a protected area such that otherpersons who have been given permission by that specific user mayremotely access these deposited images, and messages relating to theimages may be passed between the specific user and other persons. Theother persons viewing the images remotely may view them on any computerwith Internet access capability, or alternately may view them on asecond (remote) Electronic Mirror per this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows both a profile and frontal view of a subject and anElectronic Mirror per this invention.

FIG. 2 shows both a profile and frontal view of a subject and anElectronic Mirror per this invention, including additional cameras whoseimages may be merged or concatenated, and where the Electronic Mirrorcommunicates with a PC by way of a wireless router or access point.

FIG. 3 shows a frontal view of a subject showing one example where acaptured image of a subject is split such that a top-half image maylater be combined with a bottom half image from a different outfit.

FIG. 4 shows how the flat panel monitor of the Electronic Mirror can berotated 90 degrees from portrait to landscape mode. In portrait mode,the Electronic Mirror might function as a mirror, while in landscapemode, the Electronic Mirror might function as a conventional TV or videomonitor, or alternately function as a landscape mode mirror—a functionthat would be useful if more than one subject wish to be viewedsimultaneously.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a profile view of a person 101 standing in front of anElectronic Mirror 102 according to this invention, in this instanceusing a handheld remote control 103 to control the Electronic Mirror102. Both profile and frontal views of Electronic Mirror 102 are shown.This handheld remote control could either be of the infrared variety ora wireless remote control. Alternately, remote control could beaccomplished to voice commands combined with voice recognitioncapability in the Electronic Mirror. In FIG. 1 the Electronic Mirror isshown in a portrait style mode and contains at least one digital camera104 where the optics of a single camera are set for a degree of wideangle that captures the entire image of the subject from head to toejust as a conventional full-body mirror would display. If only onecamera is utilized, the preferred camera position may be either at thetop or bottom of the Electronic Mirror, depending on the height of thesubject and the height of the mirror relative to the floor. Forinstance, for the scenario shown in FIG. 1, the preferred location for asingle camera might be at the bottom of the Electronic Mirror as shownfor camera location 105. It is also possible to include additional imageprocessing software within the Electronic Mirror or on a processorconnected to the electronic Mirror via a network, such that imagescaptured using a camera or cameras having wide angle lenses may bealtered to remove some or all of the distortion produced by a wide anglelens.

As shown in FIG. 2, the Electronic Mirror 201 may contain more than onedigital camera 202, 203, 204, and 205, whereby the cameras are usedsimultaneously and are coordinated in order to produce a wide-angle viewwithout the distortion that sometimes results from the use of awide-angle lens on a single camera. This coordination produces acomposite image resulting from the merging or concatenation of multipleseparate images. To accomplish this, only cameras 202 and 205 may berequired, or alternately only cameras 203 and 204 may be required.However, the inclusion of all four cameras shown may further enhance theimage in order to minimize unwanted wide-angle distortion. Alternatelyas will be shown later, cameras 203 and 204 may be useful when theElectronic Mirror is rotated 90° into landscape mode and used as amirror in that mode as opposed to a TV. Images may be still images orfull motion video images.

Handheld remote 206 is used not only to capture images and/or videos ofthe subject, it is also used to control the playback of images andvideos as well as the storage and retrieval of images and videos suchthat any that have been recorded previously may be recalled and playedor viewed in order to compare these images and videos with other outfitcombinations. Although a handheld remote control is shown, remotecontrol commands may be accomplished by way of voice commands along withvoice recognition software residing in the Electronic Mirror.

Images may be stored within the Electronic Mirror system itself, oralternately the Electronic Mirror may communicate with a computerlocated on a local area network or on the Internet through either awired or wireless connection. A wireless LAN scenario is shown in FIG. 2whereby the Electronic Mirror 201 communicates with a wireless router207 which in turn communicates with a personal computer 208 or theInternet 209. Software running on a processor within the ElectronicMirror enables images to be stored, regardless of where they are stored,for retrieval at a later time.

FIG. 3 shows an additional feature of this invention whereby the imageof a person 301 may be split in some manner such that a portion of anoutfit, for instance a pair of slacks 302 may be combined with a portionof another outfit, such as a sweater 303. In this way, a particular pairof slacks and sweater that were never actually simultaneously worn bythe subject may be shown as a composite image 304 on the ElectronicMirror as if they were simultaneously being worn. This allows thesubject to combine a wide variety of items without having to physicallytry all these items on simultaneously in the combinations they wouldlike to view. All of this functionality can be controlled by remotecontrol.

In order for the split image method described above to function withconsistency, it is useful for the subject to stand in essentially thesame position relative to the location of the Electronic Mirror. This isfacilitated by placing marks on the floor where an individual will standeach time their image is captured. Alternately, the Electronic Mirrormay issue voice commands to the user telling them how to move in orderto be consistently positioned. To determine the position of the user,the Electronic Mirror may perform an image analysis on the imagecaptured by the camera, or alternately may contain additional positionsensing mechanisms such as sonar or radar. Captured images may also beelectronically processed within the Electronic Mirror to align newlycaptured images with previously captured images in order to facilitatemixing portions of images as described above.

FIG. 4 shows how the widescreen flat panel monitor display can berotated 401, either manually or by a motorized mechanism which may ormay not be activated by remote control. As shown, the flat panel monitoris used as a mirror per this invention when oriented in a portrait mode402, and used as a conventional TV set for viewing broadcast TVprogramming when oriented in landscape mode 403. There may also be timeswhen the user wishes to have an Electronic Mirror functionality in alandscape mode, potentially for viewing multiple people at the sametime, and this mode of operation may also be supported.

The rotation of the monitor, if motorized, may be controlled by remotecontrol, either from a handheld remote control or by way of voicecommands. If a handheld remote control is utilized, it may use awireless RF connection to facilitate ease of use when compared with anIR (infrared) remote that has a directional beam. If voice commands areutilized for control, a learning mode may be incorporated to adapt thespeech recognition to a particular user or set of users.

The Electronic Mirror may include an integral TV tuner orsatellite/cable receiver, or alternately may simply receive TVprogramming via video and audio inputs driven by a separate TV receivingdevice. Video and audio information received from a separate device maybe received via conventional cables or via an RF wireless link.

Thus, the foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention has been provided for the purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevantarts. For example, unless otherwise specified, steps preformed in theembodiments of the invention disclosed can be performed in alternateorders, certain steps can be omitted, and additional steps can be added.The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical application, therebyenabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments and with various modifications that are suited tothe particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of theinvention be defined by the claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic mirror comprising: a flat panelmonitor display; at least one digital camera for capturing images of asubject; wherein the digital camera captures images of a subject and theflat panel monitor displays the captured images; wherein the flat panelmonitor may be rotated 90 degrees to support both landscape and portraitviewing modes; and wherein the flat panel monitor displays TV or videoprogramming when oriented in landscape mode, and images captured by saiddigital camera when oriented in portrait mode.
 2. The electronic mirrorof claim 1 wherein captured images are stored for viewing at a latertime.
 3. The electronic mirror of claim 1 further comprising at leastone of an integral TV tuner, a satellite receiver, and a cable receiver.4. The electronic mirror of claim 1 wherein rotation of the flat panelmonitor is motorized.
 5. The electronic mirror of claim 1 wherein anoperation of the electronic mirror is performed in response to a remotecontrol command.
 6. The electronic mirror of claim 1 wherein a firstimage captured by said digital camera is split into multiple portions,and where a portion of said first image is displayed along with aportion of a second image.
 7. The electronic mirror of claim 1 whereinstock images of accessory items are overlaid on a displayed image of asubject.
 8. The electronic mirror of claim 1 further including theability to capture and play full motion video images of a subject. 9.The electronic mirror of claim 8 wherein said full motion video imagescaptured by said digital camera are displayed in realtime on the flatpanel monitor.
 10. The electronic mirror of claim 8 wherein said fullmotion video images captured by said digital camera are stored forreplay at a later time.
 11. The electronic mirror of claim 1 whereinmultiple digital cameras are utilized to capture images of a subject,and wherein the images from multiple cameras are merged or concatenatedto produce a composite image.
 12. The electronic mirror of claim 11wherein said composite image is a full motion video image.
 13. Theelectronic mirror of claim 1 wherein images provided by the electronicmirror are shared with others via the Internet such that others maycomment on a particular image.
 14. The electronic mirror of claim 13wherein another person at a remote location may view captured images ona different electronic mirror.
 15. A method for operating an electronicmirror including a rotatable flat panel display, comprising: with theflat panel display positioned in landscape mode, viewing TV or videoprogramming on the electronic mirror; rotating the flat panel displaysuch that it becomes positioned in portrait mode; and capturing a firstimage of a subject in view of the mirror and displaying the first imageon the flat panel display while in portrait mode.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising: storing the first image; and retrievingand viewing the first image on the flat panel display in portrait mode.17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: with the flat paneldisplay in portrait mode, capturing a full motion video of the subject.18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: storing the full motionvideo of the subject.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:retrieving the full motion video from storage; and replaying the fullmotion video of the subject on the flat panel display.
 20. The method ofclaim 17, further comprising: playing the full motion video of thesubject on the flat panel display in realtime.